Embrace The Void

Latest Episodes:

High Weirdness with Erik Davis Mar 19, 2023

Show notes

My guest this week is Erik Davis (@erik_davis), author of High Weirdness and many other worthwhile reads on counterculture topics. We discuss the history of High Weirdness and how it has shaped our modern world for better and for worse.

Erik Davis: https://techgnosis.com/

https://www.burningshore.com/

Convocation: Erik Davis

Music by GW Rodriguez

Sibling Pods:

Philosophers in Space: https://0gphilosophy.libsyn.com/

Filmed Live Musicals Pod: https://www.filmedlivemusicals.com/thepodcast.html

Support us at Patreon.com/EmbraceTheVoid

If you enjoy the show, please Like and Review us on your pod app, especially iTunes. It really helps!

Recent appearances:

Aaron was recently on Cog Dis to talk about Antisemitic Conspiracism: https://www.dissonancepod.com/episode-675-talking-antisemitism-with-aaron-rabinowitz/

Aaron and Callie from Philosophers in Space and Queersplaining were recently on The Psychology Podcast to discuss all things trans. Check it out and share it around, we really did try to cover allllll lthe bases: https://scottbarrykaufman.com/podcast/aaron-rabinowitz-callie-wright-what-we-get-wrong-about-transgender-people/

Next Episode: Spiritual Emergence with Leah Prime

Conspiracism Leadership with Ben Dow Mar 03, 2023

Show notes

My guest this week is Ben Dow (@benjaminjdow), a professor of practice at Southern Methodist University with a focus in management studies. He recently sent me several papers he worked on with other folks about conspiracism and leadership, and we discuss what those papers suggest about the role of conspiracism in modern politics and other organizations.

Ben's website: https://www.smu.edu/cox/Our-People-and-Community/Faculty/Benjamin-Dow

Convocation: H.L. Mencken, A Mencken Chrestomathy

Music by GW Rodriguez

Sibling Pods:

Philosophers in Space: https://0gphilosophy.libsyn.com/

Filmed Live Musicals Pod: https://www.filmedlivemusicals.com/thepodcast.html

Support us at Patreon.com/EmbraceTheVoid

If you enjoy the show, please Like and Review us on your pod app, especially iTunes. It really helps!

Recent appearances:

The only one that matters really: https://religionnews.com/2023/02/01/american-atheists-board-members-exit-dogged-by-misconduct-allegations/

Next Episode: High Weirdness with Erik Davis

Conceptually Engineering Luck with Matthew Cull Feb 19, 2023

Show notes

My guest this week is Matthew Cull (@MaattCuull), a philosopher postdoc at the University of Edinburgh, with an interest in social philosophy, particularly debates around the concept of conceptual engineering. We discuss the debate between classic approaches to defining terms and conceptual engineering. We also discuss whether my pedagogy of luck counts as conceptual engineering or not.

NOTE ON VIP CONTENT FOR THIS WEEK: Sadly, we had some issues with the bonus content and Matt and I decided to just cut it this week. Apologies. More next week!

Matt's Website: https://matthewcull.wixsite.com/philosophy

Convocation: Hilary Putnam

Music by GW Rodriguez

Sibling Pods:

Philosophers in Space: https://0gphilosophy.libsyn.com/

Filmed Live Musicals Pod: https://www.filmedlivemusicals.com/thepodcast.html

Support us at Patreon.com/EmbraceTheVoid

If you enjoy the show, please Like and Review us on your pod app, especially iTunes. It really helps!

Recent appearances:

The only one that matters really: https://religionnews.com/2023/02/01/american-atheists-board-members-exit-dogged-by-misconduct-allegations/

Next Episode: The Causes of Conspiracism with Ben Dow

Antisemitic Conspiracism with Joshua Stein Feb 03, 2023

Show notes

My guest this week is Joshua Stein (@thephilosotroll), a postdoc in philosophy at Georgetown. His interests include social ontology, political philosophy, collective responsibility, and today’s topic, antisemitic conspiracism. We discuss Ye's recent public spiral and what it says about the future of right wing politics.

Joshua's Website:

Convocation: Sartre

Music by GW Rodriguez

Sibling Pods:

Philosophers in Space: https://0gphilosophy.libsyn.com/

Filmed Live Musicals Pod: https://www.filmedlivemusicals.com/thepodcast.html

Support us at Patreon.com/EmbraceTheVoid

If you enjoy the show, please Like and Review us on your pod app, especially iTunes. It really helps!

Recent appearances: Had several recent appearances you should check out!

QED Skepticamp talk! Decoding a (((moral panic))) conspiracy meme: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zAKGA8-Da1E

I was on The Podcaster's Guide to The Conspiracy talking about philosophy of conspiracism: https://www.podbean.com/media/share/pb-7ra6d-130e8e8?utm_campaign=au_share_ep&utm_medium=dlink&utm_source=au_share

I was on Dan Norton's YouTube show discussing free will and luck: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4dZx_VD54pg

Next Episode: Conceptual Engineering with Matt Cull

Defending the Public with Yassine Meskout Jan 20, 2023

Show notes

My guest this week is Yassine Meskhout (@ymeskhout), a Public defender and infrequent host of The Bailey podcast. Yassine argues for anarchy perspectives also writes on substack and for Jesse Singal’s newsletter on topics related to the criminal justice system as well as some culture war issues. His articles include “Eleven Magic Words” and “I am here because of dumb luck”.

Yassine's website: https://ymeskhout.substack.com/

Convocation: Ayn Rand

Music by GW Rodriguez

Sibling Pods:

Philosophers in Space: https://0gphilosophy.libsyn.com/

Filmed Live Musicals Pod: https://www.filmedlivemusicals.com/thepodcast.html

Support us at Patreon.com/EmbraceTheVoid

If you enjoy the show, please Like and Review us on your pod app, especially iTunes. It really helps!

Recent appearances: Had several recent appearances you should check out!

QED Skepticamp talk! Decoding a (((moral panic))) conspiracy meme: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zAKGA8-Da1E

I was on Dan Norton's YouTube show discussing free will and luck: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4dZx_VD54pg

Next Episode: Antisemitic Conspiracism with Joshua Stein

Stoic Social Justice with Jonathan Church Jan 06, 2023

Show notes

My guest this week is Jonathan Church (@jondavidchurch), a chartered financial analyst, government economist, and author. His recent books include Reinventing Racism: Why White Fragility is the wrong way to think about racial inequality, and Virtue in an age of identity politics: A stoic approach to social justice. From my perspective his works aim to provide substantive critiques of current approaches to marxism and social justice, or “Wokeness” my term not his, while also criticizing the way that anti-woke activists have overshot the mark..

Jonathan's Website: https://www.jonathandavidchurch.com/

Convocation: Aaron's void brain

Music by GW Rodriguez

Sibling Pods:

Philosophers in Space: https://0gphilosophy.libsyn.com/

Filmed Live Musicals Pod: https://www.filmedlivemusicals.com/thepodcast.html

Support us at Patreon.com/EmbraceTheVoid

If you enjoy the show, please Like and Review us on your pod app, especially iTunes. It really helps!

Recent appearances: Had several recent appearances you should check out!

QED Skepticamp talk! Decoding a (((moral panic))) conspiracy meme: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zAKGA8-Da1E

I was on Dan Norton's YouTube show discussing free will and luck: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4dZx_VD54pg

Next Episode: TBD!

Feminism, Woke Religiosity, and Trans Rights with Helen Lewis Dec 23, 2022

Show notes

My guest this week is Helen Lewis (@helenlewis), a staff writer at the Atlantic and author of the book Difficult Women: A History of Feminism in 11 Fights. Helen has a project with the BBC coming out December 19th about internet gurus. We discuss her book, her article on wokeness as a religion, and debates around trans rights and gender self-ID.

Helen's Substack: https://helenlewis.substack.com/

Convocation: Difficult Women

Music by GW Rodriguez

Sibling Pods:

Philosophers in Space: https://0gphilosophy.libsyn.com/

Filmed Live Musicals Pod: https://www.filmedlivemusicals.com/thepodcast.html

Support us at Patreon.com/EmbraceTheVoid

If you enjoy the show, please Like and Review us on your pod app, especially iTunes. It really helps!

Recent appearances: Had several recent appearances you should check out!

QED Skepticamp talk! Decoding a (((moral panic))) conspiracy meme: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zAKGA8-Da1E

I was on Dan Norton's YouTube show discussing free will and luck: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4dZx_VD54pg

Next Episode: Stoic Social Justice with Jonathan Church

EV - 257 Atheist Experiences with Matt Dillahunty Dec 09, 2022

Show notes

My guest this week is Matt Dillahunty (@Matt_Dillahunty), longtime activist for skepticism and atheism and former host of The Atheist Experience. Matt has engaged in public debates on contentious issues like religion and reproductive rights with contentious individuals like Ray Comfort and Jordan Peterson. We discuss his 16 year stint on the Atheist Experience and how the culture wars have impacted our community during that time.

Matt's Patreon Feed: https://www.patreon.com/AtheistDebates

Convocation: Andor

Music by GW Rodriguez

Sibling Pods:

Philosophers in Space: https://0gphilosophy.libsyn.com/

Filmed Live Musicals Pod: https://www.filmedlivemusicals.com/thepodcast.html

Support us at Patreon.com/EmbraceTheVoid

If you enjoy the show, please Like and Review us on your pod app, especially iTunes. It really helps!

Recent appearances: Had several recent appearances you should check out!

QED Skepticamp talk! Decoding a (((moral panic))) conspiracy meme: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zAKGA8-Da1E

I was on Dan Norton's YouTube show discussing free will and luck: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4dZx_VD54pg

Next Episode: Difficult Women with Helen Lewis

EV - 256 Deep Reckonings with Stephanie Lepp Nov 26, 2022

Show notes

My returning guest this week is Stephanie Lepp (@stephlepp), a conceptual artist and the incoming executive director at the Institute for Cultural Evolution. We discuss her recent project, Deep Reckonings, a series of videos using deep fake technology to imagine what it would look like if famous individuals apologized for harms they've caused.

Note: We recorded this episode twice in an attempt to have a productive conversation worth listening to. While I believe this final version is worth listening to, we ultimately disagreed on one editing issue.

Deep Reckonings: https://www.deepreckonings.com/about.html

Convocation: Bell Hooks

Music by GW Rodriguez

Sibling Pods:

Philosophers in Space: https://0gphilosophy.libsyn.com/

Filmed Live Musicals Pod: https://www.filmedlivemusicals.com/thepodcast.html

Support us at Patreon.com/EmbraceTheVoid

If you enjoy the show, please Like and Review us on your pod app, especially iTunes. It really helps!

Recent appearances: Had several recent appearances you should check out!

I was on Dan Norton's YouTube show discussing free will and luck: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4dZx_VD54pg

Coming soon: QED videos!

Next Episode: Deep Reckonings with Stephanie Lepp

EV - 255 Soft Compatibilism with Alfred Mele Nov 12, 2022

Show notes

My guest this week is Alfred Mele, the William H. and Lucyle T. Werkmesiter Professor of Philosophy at Florida State University, and author several books on free will, most recently Free Will: An Opinionated Guide. Mele argues for a soft compatibilism, claiming he's not convinced by either the compatibilist or incompatibilist positions, but feels the first is more likely to be true. We discuss the arguments for this position and whether it's livable.

Free Will: An Opinionated Guide: https://www.amazon.com/Free-Will-Opinionated-Alfred-Mele/dp/0197574238

Convocation: Aaron's void, with a little help from Janis Joplin

Music by GW Rodriguez

Sibling Pods:

Philosophers in Space: https://0gphilosophy.libsyn.com/

Filmed Live Musicals Pod: https://www.filmedlivemusicals.com/thepodcast.html

Support us at Patreon.com/EmbraceTheVoid

If you enjoy the show, please Like and Review us on your pod app, especially iTunes. It really helps!

Recent appearances: Had several recent appearances you should check out!

Dentith had me on their show to discuss the Better Way antivaxxer conference: https://conspiracism.podbean.com/e/circling-the-void-with-aaron-rabinowitz/

other discussions of that conference:

I doubt it pod (discussing luck): https://dollemore.com/2022/06/02/801-aaron-rabinowitz-from-embrace-the-void-and-philosophers-in-space-podcasts/